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iPhone X Review

Review of iPhone X powered by the Slant community.

The iPhone X is the newest flagship from Apple. It's quite a departure from previous versions since it has removed the signature physical home key and introduced a new OLED screen (previous iPhones had an LCD display). It's also the most expensive iPhone to date.

Pros

Pro

The most colorful screen on the market

The iPhone X is the first iPhone with an OLED screen. OLED is the best smartphone screen technology on the market at the moment and the jump to OLED screens was long overdue for the iPhone. The 5.8 inch screen has rich, vibrant colours and inky blacks due to the 2436 x 1125 resolution. It's quite bright as well so you won't have any issues using the phone under direct sunlight.

Pro

Performance is considerably better than on previous iPhone versions

The new 6-core, 64bit, A11 Bionic chip inside the iPhone X (and iPhone 8) does not disappoint. Performance is smooth, as is expected from an iPhone, and, according to GeekBench, the iPhone X has 25% better performance on single core and 80% better performance on multi core compared to the iPhone 7.

Pro

Can be charged wirelessly

The iPhone X is the first iPhone to implement wireless charging. What's more, Apple decided to implement the Qi standard for wireless charging which, among other things, lets you monitor multiple devices charging wirelessly at the same time.

Pro

The face recognition system works virtually everytime

The iPhone X's FaceID security system recognizes the user's face and uses the front-facing camera to unlock the phone. While it's true that other smartphones have had this technology for years, it's never been this secure. FaceID uses infrared technology to create a 3D map of the face, making it impossible to unlock the phone using a photography of the owner (like you can do with most other phones with a face recognition system).

Pro

The display is very large, but still comfortable to use with one hand

At 5.8 inch the iPhone X has got the biggest display out of all iPhones, but due to the small bezel it managed to stay smaller than the iPhone 7 Plus and is quite easy to use with one hand.

Pro

Excellent design

As always, Apple does not disappoint in the design department. The iPhone X is a beautiful phone with round edges that make it easy to hold in your hand. The slippery metallic back portion from the iPhone 7 has been replaced by a glass section which makes it harder for the phone to slip from your hand. But it should be mentioned that the glass part in the back is like a fingerprint magnet.

Pro

No lag or stuttering

Since both the hardware and software are designed in-house, Apple can make their software much more efficient than other phone manufacturers that have no say in OS design. As such, the iPhone X (and older versions) works flawlessly and has virtually no lag or stuttering to speak of.

Cons

Con

The most expensive smartphone to date

At a release starting price of $999, its price tag is on the higher end, even for flagship phones.

Con

No fingerprint scanner

The removal of the home button unfortunately also brought the removal of TouchID. Apple has planned to replace the fingerprint reader with the new FaceID but it's not really an equivalent replacement since both of these security measures are completely different even if they both serve the same purpose. It would be similar to removing password locking when TouchID was first introduced.

Con

The fast charger needs to be bought separately

While the iPhone X supports fast charging (50% within 30 minutes), in order to use this feature, you will need to buy a USB-C cable separately.

Con

All the added gestures to iOS 11 are hard to remember

With iOS 11 and the removal of the home button the iPhone relies on screen gestures much more than in the past. It may take some time to get used to the new gestures and while not extremely complicated, it adds some complexity which has not been present in old iOS versions and goes against the whole "just works" philosophy that has made the iPhone what it is today. For example:

To go to the home screen you swipe up from the bottom of the display.

To access the control center you swipe down from the top of the screen.

To open notifications you swipe right.

To open the camera you need to swipe left.

Con

With the removal of the home button, opening the home screen became rather awkward

In the past, to open the home screen that listed your apps, you just needed to press the physical home button. Since the iPhone X does not have a physical home button, you have to swipe the screen from the bottom up to go there. This can be a bit awkward since you can accidentally switch screens when scrolling through a web page for example.

Con

Buying a cover for it is highly advisable

Since Apple decided to ditch their design with an aluminium back and return to the glass back, having a cover for the X is almost a necessity since dropping it means you risk breaking both sides of the phone (back and screen) at once.